Asked if he had any regrets about his dismissal, Gonzalez replied, “Absolutely not.”

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In fact, Gonzalez said he was looking forward to receiving a phone call from

Joe Torre

, the league’s chief baseball officer.

“That’s why I did it,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez remained defiant as he looked back at the events leading up to his ejection, saying his at-bats in the fifth and seventh innings were compromised by errant strike calls by home plate umpire Doug Eddings.

Gonzalez had problems with a 3-1 pitch in the fifth inning, an outside fastball that was called for a strike. The pitch-tracking system showed the fastball by Odrisamer Despaigne

“I said a couple things about how it shouldn’t have been a strike,” Gonzalez said. “He started telling me that I was complaining about the pitch before. I said, ‘Yeah, I complained because it was a ball.’”

At that point, Gonzalez said he was told by Eddings, “You know what? Now, you have to swing at that pitch.”

Gonzalez said he became enraged.

“At that point, that’s when I lost it,” he said. “There’s no way I was staying in the game if I made an out.

“The fact that he just didn’t care is really what got me mad.”

The next pitch was also outside, but Gonzalez swung at it for another strike.

“Normally, I wouldn’t have swung at that pitch,” he said. “I already know that if I take it and he calls it a strike, I might get thrown out before the at-bat even ends.”

Gonzalez grounded into an inning-ending double play, after which he exchanged words with Eddings. As he expected, he got the thumb.

"One-oh is a huge different from oh-one," Gonzalez said. "And on top of it, he's now telling me I have to swing at those pitches. For me, it's unacceptable. I'm not going to just sit there and keep my mouth quiet over it."